Homer was a great but blind poet who believed he had a purpose. He wanted to tell people the myths about the Greek gods and goddesses. Homer wrote very long and beautiful poems called epics. They took a long time to read because of how long they were. Homer tells about the war of the Greeks and the Trojans in his epics The Iliad and The Odyssey. These were among the oldest works of literature. Aeschylus (Es-ka-lees) was one of the most famous Greek play writers.
He was known as father of tragedy because it was he who created tragedies. Tragedies were plays in which life is treated very seriously and usually had sad endings. Aeschylus was inspired to write tragedies after fighting in wars against the Persians. His great tragedies won him the first place prize in the Greek writing festival thirteen times in a row. Aristophanes (Ar-is-tof-a-knees) was one of the most famous writers of comedy. Comedies were pretty much the opposite of tragedies.
Comedies were plays that were funny and usually had happy endings. Aristophanes comedies were always loud and happy events. His comedies were full of jokes and written to make fun of famous people. Aristophanes even made fun of Aeschylus in one of his comedies. Socrates (Sock-ra-tees) was Athens most famous philosopher. His motto was Know thyself. He became very well known when he dared to question Athenian values. Because Socrates doubted the glory of Athens, many Athenians got angry.
The government then accused him of forming an idea of revolt, and then a jury gave him the death sentence. While in jail, Socrates jailer gave him a poisoned drink and he died. Plato (Play-toe) was Socrates most brilliant student and he admired all of his wise teachers work. Plato though Socrates was the wisest and most just and best Athenian. After Socrates was poisoned, Plato wrote down all of Socrates ideas. He then founded the first University (known as the Academy) ever, and it lasted for 900 years.